Christmas on the Equator

Most of our local friends and neighbors are hindu and do not know that Christmas is even a holiday. It has given us some great chances to share with them. Still, we wanted to spend Christmas with others who delight in the birth of our savior. So this year for Christmas we went to visit friends who live in another part of the country. We had so much fun sharing this special season with other believers. We had all sorts of new experiences as well as some that were reassuringly familiar.
Jody got to go scuba diving,

and be a couch potato.
We learned what divinity looks like when it is 99 degrees outside,
opened gifts,
and visited the most beautiful beach we had ever seen!

Christmas can't be very far...

On my birthday we had a wonderful time up in the mountains with some friends and their precious daughters. Even though this was only 45 minutes from our house, the altitude is over 6,000 ft and it was around 50 all weekend with rain which made it feel even colder. We enjoyed time by the fireplace together as well as time playing outside. It made us feel like Christmas wasn't very far away!

Happy Birthday!

One of the things I really like about this place is the culture surrounding birthdays. When it is your birthday, it is your responsibility to treat your friends, so everyone looks forward to the birthdays of their friends! This year for my birthday I wanted to celebrate a teenager that lives in my neighborhood named *Karen. She will celebrate her 15th birthday on Christmas day and in all her life, no one has told her whose birthday she shares...until this year. We have had so much fun together each week reading the word together, so on my birthday I wanted to treat Karen. We got her a cake and a few small gifts and threw her a birthday party with the family that she nannies for. She has never had a birthday party before...she comes from an underprivileged family and has to work to send money home. She dropped out of school after 3rd grade. Pray that she would have a real encounter with the One True God. Here is the story of her party:

Dreaming of a white Christmas

This is the view I get from my window each night this month...no, that is not snow. Those are hordes of termites! It is as close to a "White Christmas" as I will get this year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with friends who live 3 hours from our house. We loved getting to eat the traditional American dishes, getting to speak English and having fellowship with other like-minded people. We have so much to be thankful for this year, not the least of which are healthy bodies. Jordan got a clean bill at her visit with the Dr while we were in the city...her body has recovered naturally from the miscarriage and she will not need a D & C! Praise God!

To our first child

Our hearts are sad today, Little One, as we think of all the things you never got to experience in life. We had so much to share with you and never imagined you would only be here for 10 short weeks. Our arms ache to hold you and our eyes long to see your sweet face. We want you to know that you were loved. We waited so long for you and we were not prepared to say "good-bye" before we even heard you cry. We had hoped for more time to make some memories together before you had to go. Today is hard for us, Little One, but we know that you are more alive today than we have ever been. You are in Papa's arms where only LOVE remains. Mommy and Daddy look forward to the day when we can join you.

College night...and other explosions

Thank you for those of you who lifted up our Thursday night University group. We met for the first time last night with students from the local university who are studying to become English teachers. We had 4 students show up, a medical doctor who wanted to improve her English, and a High school English teacher...all of whom are Hindu. We shared the story of the creation of the Spirit world and the fall of Lucifer and then discussed it in English. They brought out some great insights and applications to their own lives. We gave out 40 fliers so we hope to have even more students join us next week when we will discuss Creation.

Also unexpected this week, our oven blew up. I had knelt in front of it to turn it on after it refused to heat up and it just exploded: threw open the door, engulfed me in a fire ball and made a huge noise like a bomb which sent all of the neighbors running over to see what had exploded. I ran in the house screaming at Jody to look at me, with my eyes tightly shut, imagining the worst: a black char-grilled face and shirt with at least one side of my hair completely singed off and no eyebrows. He finally calmed me enough to get me to open my eyes and look in the mirror. It only singed the bottom two inches off my hair and it did so pretty evenly so you can't really tell. It was scary, but we are unhurt and it gave us something to post on the blog!

Ready or Not...

We're pregnant! We met with a midwife here last week and expect Baby Blanton to arrive around June 11. If everything goes smoothly, we will deliver here, with a midwife in the hospital 3 hours away from our home...

To break the news to Jody, I wrapped a baby outfit with a card and gave it to him, telling him that this was something he had wanted for a long time and I wanted to get his picture when he opened it. He was completely caught off-guard. The initial reaction was the proverbial "Deer in the headlight" look below, but he quickly warmed to the idea of becoming a Daddy.

Playtime!

We had a blast playing at a local aquarium with some of our little friends. We acted like kids ourselves!

A Day at the Beach

We went to the beach yesterday with friends and had so much fun!

One of our favorite places in our new city is an orphanage owned by like-minded people. We always leave there so blessed by the children. All of them come from Hindu and Muslim backgrounds. This place gives them a chance to get off the streets, have an education and to hear the Truth that will set them free.



We were touched recently when they ran to get maps and a globe. They proceeded to lay hands on different countries and pray for the salvation of the nations. They also prayed for believers in each specific country. It humbled us to tears when they prayed for our own nation of America.

Festival

The local hindus celebrate the victory of truth over evil every 6 months. It is a 2 week celebration during which time they believe that their deceased ancestors are near. We attended some of the festivities with friends recently. It gave us the opportunity to pray for them, that they would come to know the ultimate victory of truth over evil.

Praying in the temple to local gods

There were piles of offerings made to both the gods and the demons

One of the families that we spent time with

This is an example of one of the offerings that the women make to offer to the gods

Laying around!

For our three year anniversary, we spent a weekend in a rice barn in the middle of a rice field! It was very quaint and so restful!

Exploring!

We have spent a lot of time over the past month outdoors exploring. We have hiked to gorgeous waterfalls, and through ancient forests.

We saw amazing birds.

Jody even shared some of his precious Reeses Pieces from America with the locals...

who really seemed to like them!

Perhaps they were just tired of their regular diet!

This one certainly wasn't planning on having her picture made!

If you can't beat them...

Making memories

We had a wonderful visit with Jordan's parents in July. Our computer has been in the shop since they left so we were not able to update the blog. Here are a few highlights from their trip, beautiful beaches:

being smothered by their love:

picturing Bill as a rice farmer:

and getting to vacation with family: